Watched a cheap and cheerful monster movie called Boar on Shudder at the weekend, the monster in question obviously being a massive boar. In that regard it obviously draws Razorback comparisons, but it's a lot brighter and more fun, has some fun (and funny) creature effects mixed in with some ropey CG, and you do get to see that massive guy from Fury Road (I had a little baby brotha!) face off against a huge pig. I enjoyed it!

Also I mentioned to a friend who knows my taste really well that I hadn't ever watched Contact, and he insisted I should because I'd love it. He was right! Thought it was fantastic, and obviously some of the effect stand out as a bit dated now but other than that it holds up brilliantly. Was utterly engrossed throughout, can't believe I haven't seen it sooner really.

Detective Pikachu. I love me some Pokemon, so I liked this probably more than objectively appropriate, but man, they nailed it. Putting Ryan Reynolds in that electrified sack of yellow fur was genius. A lead character who doesn't want anything to do with Pokemon? Sounds insane but grounds the whole thing perfectly. The plot could and should have been better, but even that didn't bother me. One sequel to go please.

Watched a cheap and cheerful monster movie called Boar on Shudder at the weekend...

The most important thing here is that there's a channel called SHUDDER (bold and italics mine) - that's just great.

Ha, it's good! It's a subscription service, sort of a horror Netflix. They have some good stuff (they're putting out weekly episodes of a rebooted Creepshow at the moment which is great).

I mainly signed up because a film I saw at a fest a couple of years ago finally got a release exclusively on Shudder and I was desperate to see it again - Tigers Are Not Afraid, an absolutely incredible film that has had me in tears with every watch! More of a Del Toro style creepy fairy tale than a horror though so a shame Shudder is the only place anyone can see it when it would be loved by a lot of folk who don't like horror.

Contact is wonderful - and contains probably my all time favourite opening sequence.

I feel the same Sharky.

The opening is indeed brilliant, such a perfect way to begin that story and pull you right into it immediately. Really sets you up for the vastness of the themes it's going to be dealing with too. Already looking forward to another watch sometime soon.

I love Contact's exploration of belief and how it effects us in opposition to reason, and how a balance of the two most desirable. JMS put it more bluntly in B5's, "Faith and reason are the shoes on our feet, we can get further with two than just one."

You could write the plot on the back of a postage stamp and at times it feels like a straight to video Steven Segal film or something. An hour and a half flew by though, and if all you’re after is to see Rambo fucking up some baddies it’s good fun.Not as good as the last Rambo but better than III and probably better than II.

Rambo 3 was a bullshit movie at the time, but the intervening years have given it a sheen it didn't have before, thanks to a central premise wherein a Vietnam veteran aids insurgents in a proxy war between the Cold War superpowers being a great critique of American exceptionalism. What was grisly onscreen gore at the time is also now an overt examination of the consequences of violence, while the macho dialogue now takes on a different meaning - all the talk of "God would forgive - he won't!" just sounds like someone describing PTSD symptoms, and makes Rambo 3 probably the only other movie apart from First Blood to explore the idea that while Rambo may be the protagonist, he's actually kind of frightening and broken.GAME NIGHT - mumblecore comedy about a competitive couple who get caught up in a real kidnapping during a fake kidnapping. The leads are good, but it's more goofy than outright funny.

I haven't watched 2008 for in an age so while it gets props for the themes of the cyclical nature of violence (particularly like the use of the bomb from a war long gone), it's a hard watch because there is too much slaughter of innocents at the beginning.

You could write the plot on the back of a postage stamp and at times it feels like a straight to video Steven Segal film or something. An hour and a half flew by though, and if all you’re after is to see Rambo fucking up some baddies it’s good fun.Not as good as the last Rambo but better than III and probably better than II.